1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wireless communications and more specifically to wireless base station virtualization.
2. Description of the Related Art
An access point is a transmitter/receiver device that communicates data with one or more remote receiving nodes over a wireless link. An access point may include a wireless base station (WBS) that provides series of wireless access devices (WADs)—such as an IEEE 802.11 or IEEE 802.16e Network Interface Card (NIC) or IEEE 802.16 Customer Premises Equipment (CPE)—access to a wireless network. The terms “WBS” and “access point” may be used interchangeably throughout the present disclosure. The wireless network may be, for example, an IEEE 802.11 or IEEE 802.16 network. Prior art access points broadcast beacon frames for receipt by WADs to indicate that a wireless service is available. Further, WADs configured to access a wireless network may broadcast service request frames to solicit services from wireless networks in the area. An example of a service request frame includes a probe request frame as described in the IEEE 802.11 wireless standard, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Prior art access points are generally limited to providing a small number of services. The number of provided services is limited, in part, by the combined length of the beacon frames generated by the access point. Each provided service is identified within a beacon frame by a Service Set Identifier (SSID). As more services are provided by an access point, the signal comprising the beacon frames becomes longer. Due, in part, to time limitations and resource constraints at both the access points and WADs, a typical WBS can only advertise, and thus provide, up to eight to sixteen services. The time limitations are due to required gaps between the beacon frames for each of the services. Resource constraints may include consumption of available bandwidth and use of available processing power at the access point. Prior art access points are further limited to providing a fixed and static set of services regardless of geographic location or service usage within the wireless network.
FIG. 1 depicts a controller and access points in a wireless network 100 as may be found in the prior art and exemplifies the problems of static service offerings. The network 100 includes a controller 105 and a series of access points 110A-110N. The controller 105 defines a fixed set of SSIDs associated with each of access points 110A-110N.
Access points 110A-110C may be associated (via controller 105) with the same set of SSIDs (e.g., airespider, aspd, ruckus, v54, linksys, tsunami, 2wire, xlan, wireless, compaq). The access point 110D may be associated (also via controller 105) with a subset of the SSIDs associated with access points 110A-110C. For example, the access points 110A-110C in FIG. 1 are associated with SSIDs for ruckus, v54, linksys, tsunami, 2wire, xlan, wireless, and compaq but access point 110D may only be associated with SSIDs for ruckus and v54. The access point 110D cannot be further associated with additional SSIDs beyond those defined by the controller 105. As a result, the access point 110D may not be associated with SSIDs for linksys, tsunami, 2wire, xlan, wireless, and compaq even though the access point may not be operating at full capacity thus wasting available resources, especially if the access points 110A-110C are overloaded by service requests from WADs.
One solution to the problem of static and limited service offerings has been the use of unlicensed band radio frequencies (RF). This solution, however, risks RF interference from other devices at the deployed environment. The RF interference problem may severely affect service quality at premises where multiple service providers deploy their wireless service networks.
Another solution may be to offer negotiated provider-to-provider channel allocation. Such negotiation may allow for a variety of services but may actually contribute to increased RF interference. Such negotiation may also prove to be tedious and time-consuming amongst providers.
An alternative to the use of unlicensed band RF and negotiated channel allocation is the deployment of a single service provider as is common in, for example, airports and coffee house ‘hot spots.’ The single provider (e.g., T-Mobile) in such a scenario will generally have exclusive deployment rights to the premises thereby forcing the user of a WAD to subscribe to that provider's service. Such hot spots may be able to provide additional services by mandating a wireless network infrastructure, backhauling the wireless traffic, and differentiating the traffic based on the service provider at the backend. Many locations may not want to establish or maintain the wireless infrastructure, however, due to cost or other limitations.
There is a need for an on-demand wireless service solution. Such a solution will allow for a particular wireless service to be provided to a subscriber in an on-demand basis according to location and/or type of service requested. Such services may then be terminated when demand for the particular service comes to an end. Such a solution would allow for a common wireless service infrastructure to be shared amongst service providers thereby eliminating the need for radio channel coordination and decreasing RF interference and consumption of bandwidth resources. Service quality for all service providers may further be enhanced at a common wireless premises site.